There are many inevitabilities in life, but it seems almost certain that among the more pleasant is the universal love for a good murder mystery. From the novels of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and Dame Agatha Christie, to The White Lotus and the endless criminal procedurals we see in film and television, we share a fondness for seeing investigations come to life – and whether gritty or glossy, there’s something so captivating about these stories. Rian Johnson seems to have quite a fondness for the genre, as evidenced by his decision to cobble together his own version of a whodunnit in the form of Knives Out, a star-studded dark comedy revolving around the investigation of a murder that became something of a minor cultural phenomenon, capturing the attention of a large portion of the audience, who found so much charm and brilliance in the director’s subversive and bitingly clever revision of a classic genre. It was enough to immediately begin discussion of future films set in this universe, with Johnson throwing around the idea of multiple stories following the exploits of Benoit Blanc, the quintessential Southern gentleman who coincidentally happens to be the world’s greatest detective. For anyone with a fondness for classic detective fiction, the idea of a contemporary franchise centring on the character as he investigates a range of mysteries was both exciting and intriguing – and now we have the most recent chapter in his story, in the form of Glass Onion, in which Blanc returns to investigate another crime scene, this time on an idyllic island off the coast of Greece, where he is invited to participate in a wealthy billionaire’s self-indulgent game of cat-and-mouse, only for a few twists and turns that ultimately result in a real murder. A film that doesn’t compare at all to its predecessor, but still has a couple of sincere merits, Glass Onion is a lot of fun, another instalment in what seems to be positioned to be a major franchise, which may just become Johnson’s niche as a filmmaker, with his sharp writing and terrific direction being the perfect start of what will hopefully be a very promising franchise.

Obviously, this is not going to be a case of the same level of effusive praise that propelled my love of the previous film, even if this is a solid effort. The aspects that made Knives Out such a success all ultimately lead to the fact that, even as its most abstract, the film was kept extremely simple, which is quite an impressive achievement considering the scope of what Johnson was doing. Unfortunately, from the outset, we can tell that Glass Onion isn’t going to follow that same trajectory, instead choosing a path that is defined more by excess, almost as if Johnson was aware of his own cleverness, which is not always the smartest decision to make unless it is by a director that can sufficiently buttress such a bold claim with a good handle of the material, which isn’t always common. Glass Onion tries to retread many of the same components as its predecessor, but in an effort to be different, it ends up deviating so wildly in the places that were not intended, such as in relying too heavily on a convoluted story structure that we can tell the director thought was incredibly smart and self-aware, when in reality it was just overstuffed with unnecessary content, the nature of which does tend to drag the film down in far too many places, dampening our experience ever so slightly – not enough to ruin the film, but also preventing it from being nearly as smart and insightful as it genuinely believes itself to be. Johnson is a director who is most free of arrogance, but his earnestness can sometimes get in the way of achieving true greatness, especially when he is aware of the popularity of his work (there’s a reason the recent bout of Star Wars sequels and television spin-offs hired different directors to helm the various instalments – once you are at the command of something popular, its difficult to move on from it) – and Glass Onion, while still wildly entertaining, suffers from the fact that it is overly complex in a way that is entirely unnecessary, opting for excess when a more simple approach would have sufficed, especially in the more unique moments where the film was being actively experimental and subverting conventions, which could have massively benefitted from a more tight, concise execution, rather than being driven by the desire to inflate the story and its ideas as far as possible.

Yet, despite some very clear hesitations about the film, Glass Onion does not lack merit. In fact, there are several moments in this film where it felt like Johnson was truly capturing that elusive spirit of pure, unhinged fun that has been so desperately needed in the genre, which has been driven by increasingly gritty, bleak depictions of criminal investigations, deviating further from the model inspired by the likes of Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes, which were stories that were driven by intrigue and humour in equal measure. This is a good example of a genre film made by someone who has a genuine love for the material and style of filmmaking – they always say that a good director is one that makes the films they would like to see, and you could argue that everything that Johnson has done has been guided by this principle in a way or another, and the effort he puts not into telling this specific story, but also setting the stage for future instalments, is incredible. One of the interesting features that we find in Glass Onion that was missing from Knives Out is a more precise attention to detail with the world-building – this film spends a decent amount of time adding nuance to the universe in which it takes place, but without becoming too distracted with future stories that we ever lose sight of the actual mystery at the heart of this film. There’s a joyfulness that guides this film which never comes across as inauthentic – Johnson’s love for the genre is clear from the first frame, and even when it may be slightly less resonant in its themes as the previous film, it does capture the same renegade spirit that keeps us invested and intrigued, which is perhaps the most integral quality of a film such as this, which requires a strong and meaningful execution, and a tone that is both entertaining and shocking, but only to the extent that it doesn’t become too dark. For all these reasons, we can overlook some of the more glaring flaws embedded in the story and its conceptualization of certain ideas, which are easily forgivable when you have a film that is driven by the desire to give the viewer some sense of enjoyment.

Even before we knew what it was aiming to be, Knives Out piqued our curiosity based on the star-studded cast, which was an impressive assemblage of some of the most gifted actors of their generation, both veterans and newcomers, all of whom agreed to participate in Johnson’s wickedly perverse dark comedy. Expectations were high for the sequel, and while Glass Onion is slightly less eclectic in the quality of the actors cast, it still has a very good cast that mostly manages to turn in very strong performances. Highlights include Edward Norton (giving one of his most vibrant performances in years, and playing the part of the Elon Musk parody exceptionally well), Kate Hudson and Janelle Monáe, who are all the right balance of sinister and eccentric, which is exactly what the film required. Leslie Odom, Jr. and Kathryn Hahn are slightly less-complex, but they still have moments of very strong work that proves that they are true talents in every sense of the word. However, the star of Glass Onion is undeniably Daniel Craig, the only character returning from the previous film. He was exceptional in Knives Out, but he wasn’t developed in a way where we got insights into his mind, which was perhaps the only genuine flaw behind that film, which viewed him as a stoic master detective without too much personality outside of his brilliance at solving crimes. Considering he made the decision to revisit the character in future sequels, it was obvious that Johnson needed to slightly reconfigure him to be more complex, adding details to the character that show his vulnerability and deep complexity – and Craig is absolutely fantastic in the film, seemingly having more fun than an actor ever could. He’s covertly a very gifted comedic actor, and Benoit Blanc is a terrific character that draws on Craig’s inherent humour, becoming an unforgettable individual that we’d be eager to see in many future films set in this universe, especially if he continues to be developed so exceptionally well.

However, there is something much deeper going on throughout this story, and we soon learn that Glass Onion is a film that is built on the very common concept of appearance contradicting reality, which is ultimately the source of both the film’s most resounding merits, and its more significant flaws, depending on how willing the viewer is to engage with the primary themes that exist at the heart of the story. The most compelling aspect of the film is also the one that some may view as its biggest problem – this isn’t a murder mystery in the traditional sense, since unlike Knives Out, which had a relatively conventional set-up in which the twists and turns came in the revelation of the murder, this film misleads us entirely, to the point where the person who is murdered isn’t even someone we encounter directly in the film, a plot twist that eagle-eyed viewers may have been able to predict, but which is still quite impressive, at least in how Johnson is pulling the proverbial rug from underneath what appears to be a relatively by-the-numbers murder mystery, starting as a bizarre blend of Evil Under the Sun and And Then There Were Done (Johnson owes so much of his success to Christie – these films make the actual Christie adaptations released in the past few years seem deeply mediocre in comparison), but then spiralling into something entirely different, which may be divisive depending on how invested the viewer becomes in those aspects of the storyline, and how much we can believe some of the more far-fetched elements of the narrative. Suspension of disbelief is integral to this film, and we are constantly being asked to ride the more peculiar waves of the film, which is ultimately more rewarding than it is logically taxing, especially since Johnson is someone who has a solid directorial vision, which is frequently demonstrated here – it just becomes slightly muddled when the plot and execution don’t match the ambition, which is unfortunately something that can never be anticipated, and is really just a matter of working around the material as much as one can to convincingly explore some very bold themes in relation to a very popular but predictable genre.

Glass Onion doesn’t always stick the landing of some of its more prickly theoretical ideas, and the execution can sometimes feel a lot more forced (especially in comparison to the more effortlessly charismatic tone that the film establishes in its first half), but when you are trying to reinvent the murder mystery genre while still paying homage to the works that inspired it, it is going to result in a few risky decisions, which ultimately don’t come across nearly as flawlessly as they perhaps were intended, but aren’t without merit either. Johnson takes a gamble with this story, and in an effort to deviate from the formula that made Knives Out a success (to avoid it being seen as a pale imitation of the massive phenomenon of that film), he tries a few new techniques, to slightly more mixed results.The set-up is brilliant, and the twists are effective, which helps compensate for the slightly deflated ending, which is still entertaining, but doesn’t have the subversive impact that it seemed to be aiming for. Its central ideas are certainly strong enough to hold our attention – but considering how laboured the conclusion was, one has to wonder how much more effective it may have been had a few minutes been cut off the end – the film runs at 141 minutes, which is understandable, but still quite long considering how the mystery is solved quite a while before the film ends. Glass Onion is a lot of fun, and it has its moments of genuine earnestness and a lot of charm, which is enough for this colourful, hilarious and subversive murder mystery – it may not revolutionize the genre, but its ideas are intriguing and the film is well-constructed, and it is overall a fun experience that delivers exactly what it offers, giving us a couple of hours of purely unhinged entertainment, and taking us on a strange and peculiar adventure into the Greek islands, allowing us to rendezvous with a cast of eccentric characters, and ultimately solve a mystery that hints at some darker ideas that many of us may not have seen coming in this otherwise delightfully irreverent and blisteringly funny revival of an iconic genre.